Cubans Aren't Stupid

APRIL 17, 2011


BY: THE HILL


Yesterday, the Castro regime marked the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion -- and the beginning of the VI Communist Party Congress -- with a large (and very expensive) military parade.

Most argue that these military exercises are a way for the regime to keep focus on the "enemy," the "bogeyman," the "scapegoat" -- you've heard the argument before:

That the U.S. (due to sanctions) gives Castro an excuse for its ills (so the U.S. should instead provide billions in trade and travel to the Castro regime).

That ridiculous argument (wrongly) presumes that the Cuban people are ignorant at best (or stupid at worst).

As a 2009 State Department cable from the U.S. Interest Section in Havana (released by Wikileaks) shows -- Cubans are neither:

(SBU) Cuba mobilized as many cameras and reporters as it did soldiers for island-wide military exercises that concluded on Saturday, November 28. The following day, when Cuba celebrated Armed Forces Day, the top military brass, led by President Raul Castro, congratulated itself on the success of the exercises, which they attributed to "organization, more than weaponry." The maneuvers, called "Bastion 2009," had not been held since 2004. The scenario for the Bastion exercises was, once again, a U.S. invasion.

(SBU) In the days leading to the three-day exercises, the official Cuban media tried to drum up enthusiasm in the island. Cubans were exhorted to show their readiness to defend themselves and repel any attack, and coverage was nonstop. Generals went on talk shows and the radio to promote the exercises -- based, according to one contact, on the Communist concept of "total war" where the entire population is mobilized for action.

(SBU) However, the population reacted with indifference. "Before we would all be asked to do something," a local observer told Poloff, "but this time around, nobody in my neighborhood was asked to participate." Sirens went off on Saturday morning in residential areas, but few bothered to come out. Some offices and factories, we were told, used the mobilization to clean up clutter, while the foreign press reported exercises taking place in relaxed and haphazard settings.

(SBU) Our contacts also dismissed notions that Bastion 2009 was meant as a message to the United States. Rather, they say, it was meant for local consumption, to show Cubans that their government and armed forces remain strong and capable despite the economic difficulties that the island is facing. Many, it seems, slept right through that message.